Theosis: Gregory of Nyssa’s Eucharistic Theology

According to Lumen Gentium, the Second Vatican Council's dogmatic constitution on the Church, the Eucharist is "...the fount and apex of the whole Christian Life" (LG 11). It is principally through this queen of the Sacraments that the Christian experiences union and intimacy with God. It is not just a nice thing we do to remember Christ, it is the atoning sacrifice of Calvary itself. Entire libraries can be compiled on writings from Church fathers, theologians, philosophers, saints, and others about the Eucharist. One such writer I'd like to look at is Saint Gregory of Nyssa.

Gregory of Nyssa was a fourth century bishop and Church father who wrote numerous treatises on various theological topics. In our own day, his writings have been a subject of academic interest, especially for his views on Apokatastasis. In this post, we will explore his Eucharistic theology.

The Church fathers were big into typology, and Gregory was no different. Typology is the study of how New Testament events are prefigured in the Old Testament. In Gregory's Eucharistic typology, he says that just as death came to the human race through means of eating, it is fitting that life should come to humanity though eating. Just as the forbidden fruit left the stain of concupiscense on our nature, the Eucharist raises our human nature to the heights of the Father's throne. Through this Sacrament, we are awarded life. And not just any life, but eternal life. this is where his theology of the Eucharist gets really interesting.

The Eucharist is often called "The Pledge of Future Glory". How is this so? Apart from simply being a nice title to add to a litany, it hints at an important theological truth. If food is left out for too long, it corrupts. We, however, can "save it" from corruption through consuming it. Through our consumption, we metabolize it into ourselves. Gregory takes this truth and applies it to the Eucharist. He says that whenever we consume the Eucharist, apart from metabolizing it into our body, Christ metabolizes us into His body. By receiving the Eucharist, we truly become the Body of Christ. Since we then become a part of His body, we abide and remain in Him. Through this abiding, we become immortal since Christ is immortal.

This is intimately connected with the process and doctrine of Theosis (more commonly called Divinization in the west). Theosis is the process by which we become one with God and enjoy union with Him through participation in His Divine Life. How are we to achieve this? Through our consumption of the Blessed Sacrament. Through this reception we are subsumed into the infinite sea of Beauty, Life, and Bliss that is God. If Christ could have given us a more wondrous gift on Eath he would have. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." (John 15:4) In order to truly abide in Him and to experience the joy He desires for us, let us approach the Altar of grace, for there we will find the remedy for the fall and the pledge of our future glory.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Pray for us

Jesus, Pledge of Future Glory, have mercy on us